An inquest opened today into the deaths of two women who died within a day of each other shortly after giving birth at the same hospital.

Amy Kimmance, 39, gave birth to her third child, Tessa, in the Royal Hampshire county hospital in Winchester on 21 December last year. She went home but the following day she was re-admitted, in severe pain. Her condition deteriorated, she was moved into intensive care but died the following day after multiple organ failure.

Jasmine Pickett, 29, had her first baby, Christopher, minutes before Kimmance gave birth. She was discharged two days later but became seriously ill at home and had to be taken back to the hospital by ambulance on Christmas Eve, where she died. She was found to have developed sepsis.

The same bacterial infection, with group streptococcal A, was implicated in both deaths, triggering pneumonia in Pickett's case and severe toxic shock syndrome in Kimmance's.

However, at the time, a spokeswoman for the Winchester and Eastleigh healthcare NHS trust said the deaths appeared to be separate and unconnected with the hospital.

Opening the inquest, which will hear the two cases consecutively and come to verdicts when they are both finished on Friday, the mid-Hampshire coroner, Grahame Short, said: "I am very conscious of the tragedy which has befallen the two families involved. It is not just the two husbands who have lost their wives, it is the parents who have lost their children and children who have lost their mothers.

"And do not forget the effect these deaths have had on the midwives and other medical staff who cared for Jasmine and Amy."

Group streptococcus A, or strep A, is a common bacterium found on the skin and in the throat, which can cause irritation or no symptoms at all. However, it can also cause more serious illnesses, such as scarlet fever, rheumatic fever, postpartum fever, wound infections, and pneumonia.

More rarely, particular strains of strep A can cause life-threatening infections, such as necrotising fasciitis – the so-called flesh-eating bug – and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. In both cases, the bacteria rapidly cause damage to internal organs and it can be hard to save the patient's life.

The husbands of the two women, who were both teachers, said before the inquest opened that they needed to be able to tell their children why their mothers died.

"I need to understand what happened to Amy, how it happened and why," said John Kimmance. "I need to understand it not only for myself, but also so that I will be able to fully answer the questions my children will inevitably ask when they get older. I am hoping that the inquest will provide me with the facts I need. It is also my hope that any facts that emerge will help to ensure that this tragedy won't happen to another family."

"I want to be sure that when Christopher is old enough and asks to know what happened that he knows that it was not his fault that his mother died," said David Pickett. "I am trying to prepare myself for when he starts asking questions. So I hope that from the inquest there will be some account of the events leading up to Jasmine's death."

Both families are being represented by Claire Fazan, of solicitors Leigh Day. "Thankfully, it remains the case that very few women in the UK die in or shortly after childbirth," she said. "Any maternal death is deeply distressing for all concerned.

"The death of two women within 24 hours of each other at the same hospital may be the most terrible and tragic coincidence, but inevitably we have to ask whether they might have been linked in some way and what happened? The purpose of an inquest is not to point the finger of blame, but is an inquiry into the cause of death. I anticipate that at the conclusion of the inquest we will have a better understanding of what happened to these two young women."